STRANGE FISH IN CALAIS, MAINE. 221 



tian name and surname, each of different species of 

 the same genus. Don't laugh at the Yankee misno- 

 mer ; remember the tunny that was melted down in- 

 to an albicore by some of our educated fellow-citizens 

 and accepted natural historians. But still the most 

 important part of the mystery remains unexplained. 

 The anal fins of the basking-shark have an elongation 

 of a different color and texture from the balance of 

 these fins, which, if broken, would look excessively 

 like a flipper on a small scale. If the carcass had 

 been knocking about on the coast for some time be- 

 fore it was stranded, is it not very possible that this 

 fragile portion of the anal fins would get broken ? 

 and hence the fractured members in the imaginative 

 minds of the country people, be supposed intended to 

 perform the functions of feet. It has long been be- 

 lieved that the basking-shark lives principally on ma- 

 rine vegetable matter, although on dissection one was 

 found to contain a portion of a mangled crab. In 

 my opinion a desire for romancing or attaching mys- 

 tery to a strange animal has induced the good people 

 of " away down East " t<) exaggerate the most strik- 

 ing peculiarities. 



